denoland/deno · error

No rules have been configured

Error message

No rules have been configured

What it means

`deno lint` resolves the configured rule set from deno.json's lint section. If no plugins are registered AND the resolved built-in rule list comes back empty — a lint config that disables/excludes every rule — there is literally nothing to lint with, so the command bails instead of silently passing.

Source

Thrown at cli/tools/lint/mod.rs:348

      if is_err {
        eprint!("{}", msg);
      } else {
        print!("{}", msg);
      }
    }

    let mut plugin_runner = None;
    if !plugin_specifiers.is_empty() {
      let logger = plugins::PluginLogger::new(logger_printer);
      let runner = plugins::create_runner_and_load_plugins(
        plugin_specifiers,
        logger,
        exclude,
      )
      .await?;
      plugin_runner = Some(Arc::new(runner));
    } else if lint_rules.rules.is_empty() {
      bail!("No rules have been configured")
    }

    let linter = Arc::new(CliLinter::new(CliLinterOptions {
      configured_rules: lint_rules,
      fix: lint_options.fix,
      deno_lint_config: resolve_lint_config(
        &self.compiler_options_resolver,
        member_dir.dir_url(),
      )?,
      maybe_plugin_runner: plugin_runner,
    }));

    let has_error = self.has_error.clone();
    let reporter_lock = self.reporter_lock.clone();

    let mut futures = Vec::with_capacity(2);
    if linter.has_package_rules()
      && let Some(fut) = self.run_package_rules(&linter, &member_dir, &paths)

View on GitHub (pinned to 9ad36f7a2c)

Solutions

1. Add rules back in deno.json: "lint": { "rules": { "recommended": true } }
2. Trim the exclude list so it no longer covers every rule
3. If you intended plugin-only linting, register the plugin: "lint": { "plugins": ["./my-plugin.ts"] } (plugins suppress this check)

Example fix

// before — deno.json (everything excluded, no plugins)
{ "lint": { "rules": { "recommended": false, "include": [] } } }

// after
{ "lint": { "rules": { "recommended": true } } }

// or plugin-only linting:
{ "lint": { "plugins": ["./lint-plugin.ts"] } }

// validate the lint config before running lint (Node/js):
import json from './deno.json' with { type: 'json' };
const lint = json.lint ?? {};
const rules = lint.rules ?? {};
const hasPlugins = (lint.plugins ?? []).length > 0;
const selectsRules =
  rules.recommended !== false || (rules.include ?? []).length > 0;
if (!hasPlugins && !selectsRules) {
  throw new Error('lint config selects no rules and no plugins');
}

Catch lint startup failure; if the message is 'No rules have been configured', rewrite deno.json to add "lint": { "rules": { "recommended": true } } (or register the intended plugin) and retry.

When it happens

Trigger: lint_options.plugins is empty and resolve_lint_rules(lint_options.rules, ...) returns an empty rules vec: e.g. a deno.json that excludes the whole recommended set ("rules": { "exclude": [...] } covering all defaults) or otherwise selects zero rules, combined with no plugin entries.

Common situations: Copy-pasted lint configs from older Deno versions whose exclude lists grew to cover everything; configs that define "rules": {} in a nested workspace member where no defaults apply; disabling all rules while intending to use only a plugin, but forgetting to declare the plugin.

Related errors

• No rules have been configured
• Could not get parent of {} ({})
• remote deno.json files are not supported
• `deno {}` is not supported when configuration file contains
• No target files found.

AI-assisted analysis of denoland/deno@9ad36f7a2c (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/866bbb06cc40438e. Report an issue: GitHub.